Youth and Sports Minister Erick Thohir stated that sports development in Indonesia needs to be viewed with a new paradigm, namely as a potential source of revenue for the state.
"We have natural resources and industrialization, but many have overlooked sports tourism said Erick Thohir in an official statement.
He explained that sports have long been perceived as a cost or burden. In fact, sports should now be seen as a profit opportunity, potentially contributing to revenue and national image.
The Minister of Youth and Sports cited sports tourism as an example, a component of the tourism sector. Globally, sports tourism contributes up to Rp9,800 trillion in revenue, with annual growth of around eight percent.
Currently, he said, Indonesia continues to strive to increase the national economy to eight percent, meaning that the sports tourism component must be part of overall economic growth.
Therefore, his party continues to encourage the holding of national and international sporting events because they can spur the growth of other sectors, especially the economy, such as the marathon running event in Indonesia with a total of 104 events having a total of up to 10.4 million runners.
